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Install number one: LMDE 201303. I was hoping for the best of both worlds, but I got driver issues instead. LMDE has known ATI proprietary driver install issues. I followed the Mint instructions and got it working, then got a blank screen after too much tinkering. I was surprised that LMDE had this problem since Debian doesn’t, and LMDE should be a more polished version of LMDE. This wasn’t a big deal, but I decided to give Debian a chance.

Install number two: debian stable (7.3). The debian website has a convoluted maze of installation links, but it’s still fairly easy to find an ISO for the stable version you need. I installed from the live ISO using a USB key. The installation and ATI driver update went smoothly, and I thought all was well at first. I soon realized that about 50% of reboots failed; the audio driver was the culprit. I installed the latest driver from Realtec/ALSA and it sort of worked, but I was still getting some crap from # dmesg and the audio would crackle with some files.

LMDE. I live booted LMDE to see if the same issue existed there and it did.

Time for Mint 16. As expected everything worked. Man I really wish Ubuntu hadn’t chosen the dark side – their OS is really good. All of these distros use ALSA audio drivers, so why is Ubuntu the only one that works? Kernel versions:

I determined to try debian testing before settling for Mint. I tried a netinstall from USB key which killed my PC and grub bootloader. The debian stable live iso usb key decided to stop working as well. I finally got a real DVD debian stable install to work, changed the repositories to point to “jessie” and upgraded. I was very surprised to see this worked! I’m having some problems with bash, but all of my day to day software is up and running. Nice.

TL;DR: LMDE was using an old kernel so I needed the real debian testing (jessie) to solve my driver problems.

It’s interesting reading the old Linux Experiment first posts when people were contemplating which distro to install. It’s been 4.5 years since then and the linux world has evolved. Most noticeable, was no one talking about Mint!

I was considering three distros for my home PC dual boot:

Debian

LMDE

Mint

I wanted something in the debian family since it seems to be receiving, by far, the most attention. I expect this also means it gets the most activity and updates. Ubuntu would probably work the best out of the box, but as you probably already know:

Ubuntu’s privacy issues are a deal breaker of course, but they also made me question Mint. I don’t want to support Ubuntu and I think using Mint would indirectly do that. Also, Mint does have some minor default search engine sketchyness going on. I realize that these developers need funding, but I don’t think selling their users’ stats or useage is the way to do it. I think donations are the way to go and they seem to be working for Wikimedia. Developing non-essential non-related commercial software in parallel with the OS might be another alternative… hmm, sounds like a slippery slope.

The plan was: Try LMDE first, Debian stable if more stability is needed, and Mint if I got to the point that I just wanted things to work. Results to follow!

TL;DR: I planned to install LMDE or Debian, since Ubuntu wants to track me.

First of all, I would like to thank Tyler B for helping me get started by patiently answering my level 0 linux questions.

I’ve installed linux several times in the last ten years, sometimes for fun, but usually when required for school. I’ve even developed a linux app complete with a GUI and DB integration. But even with all this exposure to linux I’ve managed to learn very little about it. How is that possible? Well, if you stick to pre-configured dev environments with working tools, avoiding learning about the OS is easy.

My new project has a different motivation. Rather than using Linux to complete a project, using Linux is the project. I want to understand how linux works and I think the best way to start is to “learn by doing”. My plan is to use linux on my main home computer for everything except Windows gaming, which is rare for me anyways. I would then like to move on to LFS.